Is Coors Light Canadian? Why finding a homegrown product can be tough

Silas Brown · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 12, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

As tariff quality changes by the day, Canadians proceed to look for homegrown alternatives to American products.

But what constitutes a Canadian merchandise is not needfully straightforward. 

"The onus is connected america arsenic consumers to inquire the questions, to bash the probe that's important to america and determine which parameters are important to us," said Michael von Massow, a nutrient economics prof astatine the University of Guelph.

Von Massow said possible factors to see see wherever the merchandise is produced, wherever the ingredients travel from, wherever it's packaged and the ownership of the company. 

Consider beer. 

Coors Light is an American brand. Molson Canadian is simply a Canadian one. But a tin of either connected the support successful New Brunswick is produced successful the aforesaid place: the MolsonCoors brewery successful Moncton.

MolsonCoors is headquartered successful Chicago, but, arsenic a publically traded company, it has shareholders astir the world. 

When N.B. Liquor began taking Kentucky bourbon and California wines disconnected the support successful their firm stores, brands similar Coors and Budweiser remained.

WATCH | What makes a brew Canadian?: 

According to N.B. Liquor spokesperson Florence Gouton, the retailer considers "the state of accumulation arsenic our superior information constituent to place what is considered an American product."

"Our extremity is to guarantee that we bash not negatively interaction companies that manufacture successful Canada, with Canadian ingredients and Canadian employees," she said successful an email.

MolsonCoors, Gouton said, "is an fantabulous example." 

"This Canadian concern part has 5 breweries successful Canada, which nutrient each the home products sold present successful New Brunswick; it besides employs thousands of Canadian workers successful its 5 breweries, its income force, its logistics, etc."

The highest certification a nutrient merchandise tin person from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is "Product of Canada," wherever all, oregon astir all, of the ingredients successful a merchandise are from Canada, and it is produced with Canadian labour. 

Pretty overmuch each brew connected the support would acceptable into that category. Where it gets tricky is if the ownership of a fixed institution matters. 

"Are we disquieted astir wherever the marque is from, wherever the ownership of the institution is from, oregon are we disquieted astir wherever it's made?" von Massow said.

Ultimately, helium said, those looking for Canadian-owned options should crook to trade beer. 

Lloyd Chambers, the president of the New Brunswick Craft Alcohol Producers Association, said consumers tin consciousness comfy knowing their dollars are staying successful their communities. 

"You're supporting jobs here," helium said.

"Most of the trade producers put astir of the wealth backmost into hiring much people, expanding, buying equipment. So the wealth that you walk connected trade alcohol, whether it's wine, spirits oregon brew oregon cider, astir of it volition enactment successful the province."

However, Chambers says helium wouldn't privation to spot a boycott of macrobreweries. Just due to the fact that they aren't needfully Canadian-owned doesn't mean they don't lend to the section economy. 

One of the fewer macrobrewers that stay Canadian-owned is Saint John-based Moosehead. CEO Andrew Oland told Information Morning Saint John the institution is looking to thin into that favoritism with its caller marketing. 

"Consumers are saying 'We privation Canadian products, we privation existent Canadian products," helium said.

"So we are leaning into that precise hard … we've adjusted retired media campaigns to punctual everyone that we are 100 per cent Canadian since 1867."

Oland admitted arsenic good that fundamentally each brew connected the support successful New Brunswick stores tin beryllium considered Canadian. 

He besides pointed retired that galore of the hops that galore brewers trust connected travel from the U.S. 

The integrated quality of the North American and, to an extent, planetary system is portion of wherefore it's truthful hard to find what being a Canadian merchandise means. 

Even the accumulation of brew cans involves moving merchandise backmost and distant crossed the borderline aggregate times.

Von Massow said there's a crushed commercialized has go truthful integrated.

"We're talking present astir the costs to some the American and the Canadian economies of tariffs and that's due to the fact that determination are values successful taking vantage of antithetic competencies and antithetic things that we're bully astatine to make worth for some economies," helium said.